GALILLEE BASIN BLUES (WHICH SIDE ARE YOU ON?)

My Daddy was a miner and I’m a miner’s son
Granddaddy was a miner too down the Palmer River run
They say out on the Palmer, there are no neutrals there
You’ll either be a Eureka man or a thug for the Cooktown mayor.

Oh Digger can you stand it?
Tell me how you can?
Will you be a lousy scab?
Or will ya be a man?
Tell me which side are you on Digger?
Which side are you on?
From the dusty Palmer River,
To the trenches on the Somme.

Now I’m workin’ out the Charmichael
Three kids a bank loan and a dream
She walked out six months ago
Freedom don’t come cheap
Singin’ which side are you on mate?
For the hour is getting’ late
That coal train reaches harbour
Filled by a Bagger 288
We were singin’ ‘Which side are you on boys’
Which side are you on?

For the blacks have blocked the road to work
And they’re singin’ an ancient song
They sung it the Palmer
They sung it on the Somme
Singin’ which side are you on Digger?
Which side are you on?

Oh Digger can you stand it?
Tell me how you can
For the blacks have blocked the road to work
And they say they’re makin’ a stand
I don’t wanna be a scab Mumma
I wanna be a man
But I just crossed that picket line
And a scab is what I am

They sung it at Eureka, they sung it on the Mekong
But the blacks have blocked the road Mumma
There’s a battle goin on.

I’m a digger of the black gold
But I just crossed the line
Please forgive me Jesus, I have three kids and a drunk ex-wife
Cause I’m a diggin’ the black gold
Put on a train north to the sea
To William Blake’s satanic mill
A Shanghai factory

If Blake was but a poet
Then I’m a worker man
There’s a power in a Union
And the Union’s where I stand
For my Daddy was a miner, and I’m a miner’s son
Granddaddy was a digger too
On the Somme neath the blackened sun

A coalminer like my Dad, I’m proud of who I am
But the blacks have blocked the road to work
And they’re callin’ me a scab

So take me back to the Palmer River
Take me by the hand
I’m longin’ for that Shanghai girl
Like the needle in my hand
I found her neath the milky way
No gold found through the day

I was lookin’ for my Shanghai girl
And a needle in the hay.

Singin’ which side are you on white boy?
Which side are you on?
They sung it at the Harlan County mill
Lingiari sung it at Wave Hill

Tell me which side am I on Vincent?
Which side am I on?
For your mob has blocked the road to work
And there’s a battle goin’ on
Which side am I on Vincent?
Tell me, Which side am I on?

From the dusty Palmer River
To the trenches on the Somme
I don’t wanna be a scab Mumma
I wanna be a man

But I just crossed that picket line
And a scab is what I am.